No. 1 St. Ignatius beats University School in Baron Cup I

St. Ignatius junior Danny Brogan will remember that adage for quite some time. Not scheduled to play Saturday in a Baron Cup I tournament semifinal against University School, Brogan figured he would be a spectator at Coyne Recreation Center in Brooklyn to see his Wildcats take on the Preppers.

But when a teammate failed to make it to the arena on time, St. Ignatius coach Pat O'Rourke told Brogan to dress. Talk about coaching genius.

Brogan's goal 1:19 into the fifth overtime, set up by a crossing pass from junior Beck Schultz, had the Wildcats celebrating, as they prevailed, 4-3, in the longest game in the 42-year history of the tournament.

"Both teams were gassed," said Brogan, who also scored in the third period. "I was wide open, and it was a perfect pass. This is exactly what the state tournament is going to be about."

It was definitely worthy of postseason play, as momentum shifted throughout.

The Wildcats (26-5-3), ranked No 1 in the state, looked to be in control when they scored twice inside a minute for a 3-1 lead with 12 minutes to play. But the Preppers (20-11-3), ranked No. 3, refused to fold, as sophomore Evan Krueger scored his second goal of the night and senior defenseman Andrew Musser tied it with 5:43 left in regulation.

That set up the extra sessions, with both teams having chances to win it.

The Preppers had to replace freshman goaltender Alec Silver 30 seconds into the third overtime, when he was injured in a collision with St. Ignatius' Kevin Yarcusko. Junior Andrew Megerian was in the net the rest of the way.

"That was just a great high school game, no matter the sport you were playing," said US coach Bill Beard. "Both teams were competing as hard as they could. We just came out on the short end."

St. Ignatius senior goaltender Bernie Cook was credited with 42 saves. Silver had 27 stops, with Megerian at nine.

The Wildcats will be out to defend their Baron Cup I title when they play Shaker Heights today at 5:30 p.m.

Shaker Heights 4 , Holy Name 1 The Red Raiders (22-6) got two goals from senior Connor Siwik, with seniors Nick Hartman and John Longman contributing the other scores, to earn a spot in the championship game. Senior goaltender Eric Sterin made 33 saves.

Shaker Heights will be going for its first Baron Cup I title since 2001.

The Green Wave bow out at 22-10-2.

Mayfield 5, Midview 2 There is a lot of charm in three wins.

Never an easy task, but Mayfield looked pretty comfortable beating defending Baron Cup III champion Midview for the third time this season, 5-2.

The Wildcats (21-9-2), the Blue East Division champions of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League, rode the solid goaltending of sophomore Danny Wilson and opportunistic scoring to handle the Blue West Division champion Middies (22-8). Mayfield won two previous meetings this season, both 5-4.

"Beating a team three times, you've got to change up," said Mayfield junior John Schrieber, who had his club's first and last goals. "As soon as we got over the blue line, it was shoot, shoot, shoot."

The Wildcats got goals from sophomore Paul Jablonski, senior Andrew Conkey and sophomore Chris Sentle to lead, 5-1, with 10 minutes to play. Junior Manny Ceja got both goals for the Middies, the final one with seven minutes to play.

Midview had three breakaway opportunities in the first period, but Mayfield's Wilson was up to the challenge and denied them all.

"I just tried to stay calm and not get too anxious," said Wilson, who started a year ago as a freshman.

The Wildcats will need their third tournament victory this week to win their third Baron Cup III title in four years when they face North Canton Hoover today at 1 p.m.

North Canton Hoover 4, Parma 3 Parma refused to quit. But the upstart Redmen (12-16-1), the feel-good story of Baron Cup III, could not pull off another upset, as the second-seeded Vikings (23-7) held on for the semifinal win.

"We weren't expected to be in the tournament," said Parma coach Joe Gaudino, whose club was the No. 6 seed. "We had to win our last three to get in. We beat the No. 3 [Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin], and we took the No. 2 to the wire."

Hoover had won three previous meetings against Parma this season in the Blue West Division and appeared to be in control with leads of 3-1 and 4-2, the latter with nine minutes to play after sophomore Zach Lawson scored for the third time.

But the Redmen got within a goal when junior Pat Kirk backhanded the puck into the net with 4:19 to play. It was Kirk's second goal of the game. He also scored in the second period to even the contest, 1-1.

But down the stretch, the Redmen, who were outshot, 42-10, couldn't net the equalizer.

"No one expected us to get this far," Kirk said. "We never stopped. We never gave up. I'm proud of my teammates."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.